Category Archives: General Info

Gute Leute – Wunderbar

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Gute Leute is a coffee bar in Arlington, VA. The coffee they serve is amazing. They grind their own beans and have achieved a blend that packs huge taste without any hint of bitterness or acidity.

It all starts with a simple cup of espresso. This lets us as visitors get to know the house blend. It’s great

You can order individual drinks from the menu or they offer what they term as “courses”. In a course, a dedicated barista walks you through a special menu. The “special” and “signature” courses are different. Either is a great treat. And if you get hungry, they have a selection of pastries and hand-held treats.


The baristas are super knowledgeable and really make it point to help us a customers to learn while enjoying these special and unique coffee treats.

And when you get to the end of a course, there is quite a collection of cups and glasses. I look forward to visiting Gute Leute again and encourage anyone who enjoys coffee to make a reservation and do one of the courses.

Playing in the extraordinary world of AI Art

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AI art is everywhere these days. There is an almost infinite stream of AI artwork – a lot of which is really good. And the art generating software keeps getting better and better. I have played with Midjourney, DALL-E 3 and Imagine. You can even make AI Art in Microsoft Paint. Subscriptions are reasonably priced. Most packages are free or have a free option. 

Try this

And this

Prompting is maybe more art than science. In some cases fewer words are better. Other times it takes a very detailed prompt to get the image you seek. An interesting exercise is to run the same prompt in the various packages. Each package has its own strengths and personality. On occasion, the differences in the generated art can be quite significant.

I’ve been using this page to climb the learning curve on posting reels done in other packages into WordPress. So far, the results have been klunky but it works. 

Ode to the University of Virginia

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The University of Virginia,
A place of academic excellence,
Where students and faculty thrive,
And teaching is of great relevance.

The Center for Teaching Excellence,
Enhances faculty’s teaching abilities,
Producing world-class educational experiences,
For students with diverse possibilities.

The Centennial Fund for Faculty Excellence,
Guarantees the attraction and retention,
Of inspirational and gifted educators,
Who enrich learning with passion.

The University’s Inclusive Excellence Plan,
Aspires for academic programs that are relevant,
Engaging, innovative, and highly experiential,
Preparing a diverse group of students for the present.

The School of Engineering and Applied Science,
Affirms its core value of excellence through diversity,
With its Distinguished Learning Series,
Featuring speakers who inspire unity.

The University of Virginia,
A place where greatness and goodness meet,
Preparing students for the future,
With academic and faculty excellence that can’t be beat.

Go Hoos ! ! !

Only Six Months Until Christmas

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Only six months. Nur noch sechs Monate bis Weihnachten. Dann keine ungezogene Liste mehr. Gott sei Dank dafür.

Six more months of being good (mostly). And guys, that means three more shopping days before all those presents must be under the tree. For now, we enjoy barbecues in the back yard and wish for cooler weather.

On the topic of cooler weather, it was 118 F in Siberia last week and that is above the Arctic Circle. Stranger and stranger this thing called weather.

The current forecast calls for temperatures of 115 F in Portland, Oregon and something above 100 F in Seattle.

Sei brav. And no humbuggery. I know, I know – the world is going to hell or at least it feels like that.

Six more months.